Innovation

Innovation is often presented as a polished, structured process — but in reality, it's usually messy, unpredictable, and full of contradictions.

Sometimes it’s resourceful.
Sometimes it’s wasteful.
Sometimes it’s a burst of energy with no clear result.
But all of it is part of the process.

I’ve come to see innovation not as a straight line, but more like a spiral — looping through trial, failure, learning, and rethinking. Even when it looks chaotic, there are still patterns worth noticing.

At its core, I think of innovation as:

Innovation = Value × Idea

An idea without value is noise.
Value without a new idea is just repetition.
But when the two meet — that’s where real innovation can happen.

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What I look for

• Friction or frustration — where people are stuck
• Signals — things people already do that could be made better
• Ideas that can be prototyped, tested, and taught

Innovation doesn't need to be clean. But it does need to be honest — grounded in real needs, not just hype or trends.

Especially in education and community work, innovation has to be human, useful, and shareable — even if it starts out as a mess.

Notable Mentions

People who influenced me a lot through their writing and the way they think about innovation:

• John Besat
• Emilio Bellini, PhD